1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to function executing apparatuses and menu item display methods therefor, and particularly relates to a function executing apparatus and a menu item display method therefor for executing a function corresponding to a selected menu item when menu items are displayed on a screen and a predetermined menu item is selected.
2. Description of the Related Art
A navigation apparatus mounted in a vehicle is provided with a “MAP GUIDANCE MODE” and an “ARROW GUIDANCE MODE”. Based on the selected mode, route guidance to a destination is performed. In the “MAP GUIDANCE MODE”, a map image and a route are drawn on a display screen with a vehicle position mark superimposed thereon at a predetermined position thereof. As the current location of the vehicle changes when the vehicle travels, the vehicle position mark is caused to move along the route. Alternatively, the map image is scrolled while the vehicle position mark remains fixed at a predetermined position. Therefore, a detailed map image for the vicinity of the vehicle is displayed so as to be understood at a glance. In the “ARROW GUIDANCE MODE”, the route as well as the roads intersecting therewith are schematically shown along with an arrow representing the direction of travel at an intersection. In addition, the distance to the intersection, the direction of the destination, the distance to the destination and the like are shown. Furthermore, the direction of travel at the intersection is guided by a synthesized voice.
In order to be guided along the route using the “MAP GUIDANCE MODE” or the “ARROW GUIDANCE MODE”, the name of the destination must be input to find the route to the destination. The following input methods are known:
(1) a method of directly inputting the address of the destination;
(2) a method of inputting a desired intersection by specifying two streets when the destination is the intersection;
(3) a method of inputting the place name of a POI (Point of Interest) which is the destination;
(4) a method of initially inputting a POI place type (category) of the destination and then selecting the place name of the destination from a list of possible “place names” corresponding to the selected POI place type;
(5) a method of selecting the name of the destination from among the names of a number (n) of recent destinations;
(6) a method of selecting the name of the destination from among the names of POIs pre-registered in an “address book”;
(7) a method of inputting the destination by directly pointing to the position of the destination on the map image using a cursor;
(8) a method of inputting a telephone number of the POI which is the destination; or the like.
In order to input the destination using method (6), a user presses a menu button of a remote control unit to display a main menu on a screen (see FIG. 10A). When the user selects a menu item “Dest” from the main menu, the navigation apparatus displays a “Find Destination by” screen for specifying a destination input method (see FIG. 10B). When a menu item “Address Book” 31 is selected, the navigation apparatus displays the names of the addresses registered in an address book in a scrollable manner (see FIG. 10C). By selecting the name of a desired address (for example, ALPINE), the selected address and the name thereof are displayed as shown in a “Confirm Destination” screen in FIG. 10D. After confirming what is displayed on the screen, the user selects “OK to Proceed” on the “Confirm Destination” screen to set the selected address as the destination. The navigation apparatus finds a route from the current location of the vehicle to the destination and displays it.
The addresses registered in the address book are those which are likely to be set again as destinations in the future. A registration method to do this is as follows. A destination is input using one of the above input methods (1) to (8). When the destination is input, the system displays the “Confirm Destination” screen (see FIG. 11A). In order to register the destination in the address book, the user selects a menu item “Save in Address Book” 51. The system displays an “Input Name” screen (see FIG. 11B). When, as shown in FIG. 11C, the user inputs an address name (“MY FAVORITE BURGER”) using a keyboard displayed on the screen and selects a menu item “Save” 32, the system displays the input address name (MY FAVORITE BURGER) and the corresponding address on the “Confirm Destination” screen (see FIG. 11D).
In addition, the navigation apparatus is provided with a “Today's Plan” function. The “Today's plan” function is as follows. The user inputs, to a today's plan list, up to eight destinations to which the user plans to go on the present day. The system finds the route which traverses the input destinations in such an order as to minimize the total distance traveled. Then, the user is guided along the found route. A method for adding a destination to the today's plan list is as follows. The user inputs a destination using one of the above input methods (1) to (8) and then the system displays the “Confirm Destination” screen (see FIG. 12A). When the user selects a menu item “Add to Today's Plan” 41, the system adds the input destination to the today's plan list and displays a “Today's Plan List” screen, as shown in FIG. 12B. In order to find the route (the shortest path) which goes through all destinations registered in the today's plan list, the user presses the menu button of the remote control unit to display the main menu (FIG. 10A) and selects the menu item “Dest” from it. As shown in FIG. 13A, the system displays the “Find Destination by” screen for specifying the destination input method. When the user selects a menu item “Today's Plan” 42 from the screen, the system displays a “Calculating” message, as shown in FIG. 13B. In the meantime, the system finds the route which goes through the destinations registered in the today's plan list and displays the route to the first destination on the map image.
When it is desired to delete or change an address or a destination which is registered in the address book or the today's plan list in the above-described manner, the following process is performed.
In order to change or delete an address name registered in the address book, the user presses the menu button of the remote control unit to display the main menu on the screen (see FIG. 14A). When the user selects a menu item “Option” from the menu, the system displays a “Select” screen for specifying an object to be edited, as shown in FIG. 14B. When the user selects a menu item “Edit Address Book” 60 from the “Select” screen, the system displays a “Select Name” screen, as shown in FIG. 14C. In the “Select Name” screen, the system displays the address names registered in the address book in a scrollable manner. By selecting an address name (for example, “GREAT WESTERN BANK”) to be changed or to be deleted from this “Select Name” screen using a cursor or a menu bar (highlighted region) and pressing an enter key, a “Confirm Address” screen is displayed, as shown in FIG. 14D. In order to change the selected address name or a registered telephone number corresponding to the selected address name, the user selects a menu item “Change Name & Phone Number” from the “Confirm Address” screen. On the other hand, in order to delete the address corresponding to the selected address name, the user selects a menu item “Delete from Address Book”.
For example, the address name is desired to be changed from “GREAT WESTERN BANK” to “MOM'S BANK”. The user selects the menu item “Change Name & Phone Number” from the “Confirm Address” screen. As shown in FIG. 14E, the system displays the “Input Name” screen, so that the user inputs the selected address name using the displayed keyboard and then selects the menu item “Save” from the “Input Name” screen (see FIG. 14F). Thus, the system changes the address name from “GREAT WESTERN BANK” to “MOM'S BANK”.
In order to delete a destination registered in the today's plan list, the user presses the menu button of the remote control unit to display the main menu on the screen (see FIG. 15A). When the user selects the menu item “Option” from the main menu, the system displays, as shown in FIG. 15B, the “Select” screen for specifying an object to be edited. The user selects a menu item “Edit Today's Plan” 62 from the “Select” screen and the system displays a “Select Address” screen, as shown in FIG. 15C. In the “Select Address” screen, the system displays the names of the destinations registered in the today's plan list in a scrollable manner. By selecting an address name (for example, “WORLD TRADE CENTER”) to be deleted from the “Select Address” screen and pressing the enter key, the “Confirm Address” screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 15D. After confirming the destination name displayed on the “Confirm Address” screen, the user selects a menu item “Delete from Today's Plan” to delete the selected destination from the today's plan list.
As described above, according to the “Address Book” function, when some location is set as the destination and it is determined that it may be set as the destination again in the future, the location is registered in the address book. This allows the destination to be set by retrieving this location from the address book when the destination is to be newly set. According to the “Today's Plan” function, the shortest path which goes through all set destinations can be found.
In view of memory limitations, no more than n addresses (for example, n=90 addresses) can be registered. Therefore, when it is attempted to register another address in the address book and 90 addresses are already registered therein, the menu item “Save in Address Book” 51 is shaded with gray, or the background color and the foreground color of the menu item 51 are reversed, so that additional registration cannot be performed. For example, when the background color and the foreground color are reversed, as shown in FIG. 16A (i.e., the background color and the foreground color of the menu item “Save in Address Book” 51 are black and white, respectively) it is easy to distinguish this menu item 51 from the other menu items. When the menu item 51 is displayed in a shaded manner, even though the user attempts to select this menu item 51, the cursor is caused to skip over it so that it cannot be selected.
Editing as described in FIGS. 14A to 14F must be performed in order to change or delete an address registered in the address book. However, when no address is registered in the address book, change or deletion cannot be performed thereon. Accordingly, in order to avoid editing the address book, the menu item “Edit Address Book” 60 is shaded with gray, or the background color and the foreground color of the menu item 60 are reversed on the “Select” screen (FIG. 14B) which is displayed when the address book is to be edited. For example, as shown in FIG. 16B, by setting the background color and the foreground color of the menu item “Edit Address Book” 60 to black and white, respectively, the other menu items having the background color white and the foreground color black are distinguished from the menu item “Edit Address Book” 60. The cursor is caused to skip over this menu item 60 so that it cannot be selected.
Editing as described in FIGS. 15A to 15D must be performed in order to delete a destination registered in the today's plan list. However, when no destination is registered in the today's plan list, change or deletion cannot be performed. Accordingly, in order to avoid editing the today's plan list, the menu item “Edit Today's Plan” 62 is shaded with gray, or the background color and the foreground color of the menu item 62 are reversed on the “Select” screen (FIG. 15B) which is displayed on the screen when the today's plan list is to be edited. For example, as shown in FIG. 16C, by setting the background color and the foreground color of the menu item “Edit Today's Plan” 62 to black and white, respectively, the other menu items having the background color white and the foreground color black are distinguished from the menu item “Edit Today's Plan” 62. In addition, the cursor is caused to skip over this menu item 62 so that it cannot be selected.
When no destination is registered in the today's plan list, the menu item “Today's Plan” 42 is shaded on the “Find Destination by” screen shown in FIG. 13A. In addition, the cursor is caused to skip over this menu item 42 so that it cannot be selected.
As described above, when a predetermined number of addresses is already registered in the address book, no further address can be registered therein. When no address is registered therein, editing cannot be performed. Likewise, when a predetermined number of destinations is already registered in the today's plan list, no further address can be registered therein. When no destination is registered therein, editing cannot be preformed. When registration or editing which has been normally performed suddenly cannot be performed, the user is confused and tends to think that the navigation apparatus has broken. In particular, when the user attempts to select a shaded menu item, since the shaded menu item cannot be selected, the user does not understand why, assumes that some trouble has occurred, and complains to the customer support center of the manufacturer. This causes considerable labor and expense to the manufacturer to deal with such user complaints.